Superb, informative, emotive - 5 star

Peggy and Maude are 2 twin sisters who live on a barge  “Calliope” and work in the book bindery in the town of Jericho, a suburb of Oxford. The book is set, before, during, and after the 1st world war, at a time, not only of great political turmoil but also the beginning of the emancipation of women under the guidance of Emmeline Pankhurst leader of the suffragettes in Britain and in this respect one of the most important figures in modern British history. 

The work of a “binder” is exactly as it sounds. Maude and Peggy spend each day cataloging/numbering pages before binding them into the complete book. Peggy in particular has a lifelong love of the written word, and the power of reading, indeed their home on the barge is adorned with reject bindery books. Peggy has ambition to attend Somerville College Oxford which was created for women when universities refused them entry, and for people of diverse beliefs when the establishment religion was widely demanded. However this is a time when the evil ambition of a war hungry Germany spread its tentacles deep into Europe and when the countries of Belgium and France are threatened England rises to Kitchner’s call to arms.

Rather than view the 1st world war through events on the battlefield we the reader are shocked by stories of soldiers sent to recover and recuperate at English hospitals. Volunteers were needed to alleviate the increasing workload and suffering and it was in one such a location that Peggy met “Bastiaan” a Belgium soldier badly wounded both mentally and physically……”I’m begging. Look at me. Look at me. Look at me……I looked. A graft of skin from forehead to jaw, more like vellum than tripe. It had been scraped and stretched and stitched to the good skin around it. But there was no bone to shape it and where the eye should have been there was just a hole”...........

This is a superb, informative and highly emotional read with a young, attractive headstrong heroine, through Peggy the author expertly explores issues of the time pertaining to women, their emancipation, and right not only to vote but to have good education. The relationship between Peggy and a very damaged Bastiaan highlights the futility and carnage that was the 1st world war……”German people are not my enemy, Peggy. But there are some who have used their language like a weapon, to share the evil of their thoughts”........”Lovers were proposing, fathers were passing on pocket watches and sage advice, mothers were knitting thick socks and vest (they might not be able to protect their boys from the Hun, but they sure as hell could protect them from the cold)”........

Many thanks to the publishers for an early copy, highly recommended.